Life in Prison
by wolfie22
Summary: Entry for the USS Caryl fanfiction prompt on tumblr. Carol and Daryl in the watchtower


Author's note: This is my entry for the USS Caryl fanfiction contest on tumblr. I'm loving reading everyone's entries, so I figured I'd give it a go myself.

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Daryl came back.

Although she wasn't entirely thrilled about him bringing Merle along, he was back and that meant the world. When Rick got out of the car and Daryl wasn't with him, Carol felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

She was currently in the makeshift pantry slowly organizing some tins of food into shoeboxes for better storage when she heard a voice, "You going to handle Daryl?"

She looked up to see Beth holding two plates of food, "No problem. Thanks for taking supper duty today."

With a nod from Beth, Carol took the food and began the trek up to the watchtower where Daryl was on lookout.

"Knock, knock," she said as she walked through the door, "supper is ready."

"I could'a got it myself, ya didn't have to bring it up." Daryl Dixon was sitting on a crate sharpening arrow heads when she entered.

"We both know that you wouldn't leave this tower to come and eat with the rest of us, so I figured that I'd come and eat with you." Carol sat next to him, ignoring his subtle snort of laughter.

They sat in comfortable silence while they ate their meager helping of tinned beans and fruit. Though the prison had provided them with tons of supplies, they knew better than to feast daily and continued to ration their meals. Occasionally, Carol could feel Daryl's eyes slide over as if he were inspecting her plate to ensure that she was eating. She found him doing this a lot ever since he had found her near dead and horribly malnourished.

"Any excitement today?" the conversation between them had gotten easier since the ordeal with Sophia, but he was still quite withholding. They had grown quite close, and his recent leaving had made her realize just how much she truly cared and how much she needed him.

"Nothin' much, just the regular geeks roaming 'bout," Daryl put his empty plate on top of hers and handed her his knife and whetstone, which she took without instruction and began sharpening alongside him. They had started to move like a well oiled machine over the winter and began to read each other quite well.

"How's Merle feel about being back?"

"I don't know what goes on in his head, but I know we're stayin' together from now on." He got defensive as soon as she had mentioned Merle and she couldn't fault him for that. Everyone had voiced their displeasure at Merle's appearance, but Carol knew that he would never do something to endanger Daryl, which meant that, like it or not, he was on their side.

She tried to let him know that she had nothing against Merle, "I think he'll be a great asset when the Governor shows up. We really need the muscle."

His little nod and crooked smirk was all she needed to let her know that he understood and they settled back into the comfortable silence.

The silence was broken by the crescendo of groans and moans from outside. Usually the dull roar could be easily ignored, but something was getting them worked up.

Daryl was on his feet in an instant with binoculars in one hand and his crossbow readied in the other. Carol couldn't see anything, but she was at his side immediately while he looked into the woods.

The crossbow lowered before the binoculars did and Carol could see a bunch of walkers grouped together just at the tree line.

They were feeding.

"Deer are fucking majestic," Daryl snarled as he placed the binoculars around her neck, "wish I had of went hunting this mornin', I know I could'a caught it and had it skinned before those fuckers got at it."

If there was one thing that could make Daryl Dixon talk, it was hunting, "Deer are smart, must'a got trapped by a few of 'em or been hurt cause there's no way they could'a caught him otherwise."

Rick, Michonne and Carl were gone on a run and Daryl was holding down the fort since he was the unofficial second in command. Since they had left, he wouldn't leave the watchtower except to check on Merle, and hunting alone when the Governor knew of their location was not the smartest thing to be doing.

"As much as I would love some actual meat, I prefer having you here in one piece," Carol smiled up at him as she grasped her hand and tried to ignore the pain that was slowly beginning to show on her face.

"What did ya do, woman?" He grasped her hand and sat her down on a nearby pile of crates and blankets that served as a couch.

"I just nicked myself on the knife when you jumped up, it's nothing."

Daryl ignored her excuse, kneeled in front of her, and opened her fist to look at the cut across her palm. Without hesitation, he grabbed the purple scarf from her head and began ripping and wrapping.

"Hey! I like that scarf and now it's going to get all bloody."

"I know a woman tha's real good at laundry. I'll get her to wash it for ya and it'll be good as new." He smirked up at her and they both laughed.

They didn't laugh much anymore, especially not with the recent arrival of Merle and the news of Woodbury. It was nice to just have an easy moment and laugh together again like they did back on their first night at the prison on top of the bus. Moments like these brought some semblance of normality back to the surreal life that they had been forced into.

"Besides, when ain't our clothes full of blood and dirt these days?" Carol laughed up at him and they locked eyes for a moment, but he broke it quickly to look back at her hand. Daryl was still so shy and she knew that he was not the best at sharing any emotions.

He was finishing up the wrapping of her hand when she spoke, "I'm glad you came back," his hand stilled for a second and he glanced up quickly.

"I know why you went. I completely understand that he's your brother, but we're your family too and it hurt everyone when you left." She used her now fully bandaged hand to grasp his and he tried to avoid her gaze.

"We all need each other now. There's no going it alone anymore, not in this world," Daryl got up and walked towards the windowed wall of the watchtower, "I know you and Merle would've been fine out there, but we wouldn't be fine in here without you," she walked towards him, "I wouldn't be fine in here without you."

She slowly wrapped her arms around his waist like she did when they were on his motorcycle, and gave a little squeeze. For once, he didn't stiffen immediately and she was pleased that he was finally getting comfortable enough with her to allow for some form of physical contact.

Without warning, he turned in her arms and planted his lips on hers. He was hesitant; like he thought that she would pull away and run from the tower, but Carol would be doing no such thing. She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, which seemed to shock him for a moment, but then he responded just as eagerly.

When they pulled apart, they stood in a kind of awkward silence as they stared at each other, panting.

The silence was broken, surprisingly, by Daryl "been wantin' to do that for a while."

Carol stared at him in shock. _He wanted to kiss her for a while?_ She had not felt this good since before Sophia had gone missing.

"Well I'm glad you finally did," she laughed as he stalked forward to kiss her again.

"Thought you were dead", they came together, but this time it was anything but hesitant and he was nervously talking in between kisses.

"Then Merle had to go and fuck everything up, and I just couldn't leave 'im" he had never spoken to her this much and she knew this was a lot of pent up emotion spilling out.

"Wanted to come talk to ya all day, but…" Carol didn't need him to finish and silenced him with another kiss. She knew that he needed her to make the first move.

Daryl was pushing her back towards the makeshift couch and they were tripping over arrows and knives as they walked since their focus was completely on one another.

_Squeak Squeak Squeak._ "Hey Carol, could you help me with Judith please!"

The squeaky noise, combined with Beth's voice, caused them both to freeze. Hastily moving to straighten their clothing, they both moved to the door and looked over the railing to see Beth holding Lil' Asskicker, who was entranced by the noises coming from the little rubber duck that Glenn was waving in her face.

"Hey Daryl, you comin'?" Glenn was smugly looking up at their clearly disheveled hair and decided to return the embarrassment from a few weeks ago.

Maggie came out behind him, toothbrush in her mouth, and nearly choked when she heard her boyfriend's comment. She looked at Beth in the hopes that her sister wasn't listening or wouldn't understand, but Beth was shyly smiling down at Judith and laughing as well.

"Sonuvabitch" Daryl grumbled, but Carol merely laughed and pressed her forehead against his back in mortification.

"Guess we should go down, huh?" Carol moved from his back and started towards the stairs.

He came up behind her, "I'll go first," but he didn't move to pass her. When she looked at him, he simply winked at her and once again she was brought back to the night atop of the overturned bus and she blushed.

Life in prison was about to get much more interesting.


End file.
